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5 comments about The Home: A Memoir of Growing Up in an Orphanage.

1. "The Home: A Memoir of Growing Up in an Orphanage," is author Richard McKenzie's attempt to diminish the negative reputation of orphanages and get people to consider reviving orphanages as an alternative to foster care. McKenzie and his brother ended up in an orphanage during the 1950's after their mother committed suicide and their alcoholic father was deemed incapable of caring for them. Life in the orphanage was pretty awful. The children only received two baths and two changes of clothing per week. They spent long, hot hours working on the surrounding farmland, and the small amount of food they received was pretty disgusting. Remarkably, though, McKenzie looks back on his time in the orphanage with fondness and gratitude. He's also conducted a study of people who spent time in the same orphanage he did, and found that most of them had favorable opinions of the time they lived in the home.
   
   McKenzie makes some valid points in this book, and he shares some interesting stories. However, I wasn't too thrilled with this memoir as a whole. McKenzie eventually becomes so preachy about his opinions that the personal nature of his experience is overshadowed. Still, "The Home" is an interesting book that forces readers to consider alternatives for the thousands of orphaned children in the world.



2. McKenzie's book is compelling and I'm 100% in agreement with his belief that many orphanages were superior to the present foster care system, with the exception of some religious orphanages. In an orphanage you were among peers at approx. the same economic level who could identify with your problems and circumstances. You learn early the realities of life, that it isn't fair-- that you're not the only person or one of a few who have gotten a bad deal. Your do not feel inferior to other children which might be true in a foster home when you see that others have been more fortunate than you. McKenzie is right on the mark when he stresses the camaraderie and friendships that develop in orphanages, and the grit, perseverance and resilience that many of the alumni display. I was not in Edward McKenzie's orphanage but as a former "orphan" I applaud Edward McKenzie for telling it like it is. Completely believable. I know!!!!



3. Richard McKenzie's stellar book, "Home," is a personal treasure and a vital tool in persuading my Probation and Social Services coworkers, along with County Supervisors and Judges, to look at orphanages as a way of rescuing disadvantaged children from a faulty foster-care system and to provide safety and security for the astounding numbers of homeless children. Homeless children are nearly invisible --like baby pigeons, we never see them, yet we know they exist --an estimated 300 in my community alone. Dr. McKenzie describes a system in which there is tremendous hope. Another of his brilliant books is "Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century." I encourage all to read his writings and to speak up.



4. This book tells of an unfortunate child, which overcame many misfortunes to become a successful man. It is a must read for child care professionals. They need to know that there is another way of raising children. There is an old Southern saying "Don't throw out the baby with the bath water". The professionals in the child care field did throw out the baby. The water could have been improved in the institutions but the decision was made that all institutions were bad.
   
   McKenzie's book tells the life of one boy in an orphanage that can be multiplied many times by those with less ability to write well. The present system sometimes asks children what they want. They almost always want to stay with family, which does not mean they should. In my case, in an orphanage not far from the author's, we did not take criticism personally since there were so many of us. The "self-esteem" movement in education could learn from this.
   
   Historically, to change children's lives and sometimes society, one has gone to institutional homes of some type. The Communist, Nazi's and American government with American Indians, all did this in one way or another. These methods have good and bad points. Society needs to learn the good points. This book can help.



5. In today's society, there are thousands of children in the foster care system, who meet terrible fates. They are either unable to be placed; suffer physical, sexual or emotional abuse at the hands of their new "family"; or else get sent back to their biological parents, only to continue suffering. Countless other children remain with parents who don't want or can't take adequate care of them, only to become statastics.
   
   In the 1950s, when author Richard McKenzie was 10, he and his older brother were sent to the local orphanage. Their parents, both alcoholics, had divorced when Dickie was five. Their mother ended up committing suicide, and their father was just plain unstable. Numerous relatives, who claimed to love the boys, made transparent excuses for why they could not take the children in; and before they knew it, they were wards of the state.
   
   McKenzie describes conditions that would nearly be considered abuse by today's standards - lots of hard physical labor on the orphanage farm; a sparse diet; no pillows; infrequent baths and clothing changes. But overall, the 200 children who resided at The Home, as McKenzie refers to it, were content. For the most part, they had memories of a far worse existence, and they were in no hurry to return to it. For few of the children were true "orphans"; most had one living parent, if not both. In many cases, the children were simply given up due to household finances, neglect or abuse. So, no matter what The Home was like, it at least gave the children stability and some sort of moral upbringing, something to give them a boost into the world after they turned 18.
   
   It is for this reason that McKenzie supports orphanages, and wishes for them to return. He strongly believes the foster care system is not nearly as effective; and so to make even a dent in helping today's troubled families, the answer may lie in returning to the ways of the past.

1 comments about Keeper of the Faith: A Biography of Jim Cairns.

1. - Tom Uren. A moving, powerful book about an inspirational, original thinker and a passionate, vulnerable man.

No comments about Social Theory for Old and New Modernities: Essays on Society and Culture, 1976-2005.